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Juvenile Justice

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Allen, Rob. "‘There Must be Some Way of Dealing with Kids’: Young Offenders, Public Attitudes and Policy Change"

NNew Labour’s youth justice reforms have left progressives disappointed by a failure to take more radical steps to raise the age of criminal responsibility and phase out penal custody. This paper argues that the basic punitive orientation governing youth justice policy was established in the early 1990s, in the wake of concern about persistent juvenile offenders and the high-profile James Bulger case. The punitive orientation of policy is apparently supported by public opinion, or at least the perception of public opinion held by policy makers. The paper summarises what is known about public attitudes to adult and juvenile offenders and suggests a strategy to increase understanding and raise the level of debate, which are prerequisites for any fundamental change in policy orientation. (author's abstract)

Allen, Rob. From Punishment to Problem Solving: A New Approach to Children in Trouble.

This report looks at one of the key priorities for the New Labour administration in 1997, dealing with young offenders. Reforming youth justice was not only an end in itself. The new government observed that most adult offenders in the prisons started their offending careers as children and young people. By creating responses to youth crime which were more effective in turning young people away from delinquency, it was hoped to provide substantial benefits for society as a whole. (excerpt)

Balahur, Doina. Romanian juvenile justice system towards its way to restorative practices.

The practice of VOM in Romania has been experimentally undertaken in Bucharest and Craiova. The two experimental centres have been set up in 2002 based on the partnership between the Department of Reintegration from Romanian Ministry of Justice, Centre for Legal Resources and the Foundation Family and Child Care. The technical assistance has been provided by the experts of DFID from UK. According to the aims and objectives of the VOM experiment only those types of crimes have been selected which are based on the criminal complain of the victim (battering, assault and other crimes against the person, insult etc). The persons - victims and young offenders - have been integrated based on their voluntary consent. (excerpt)

Baldry, Anna C and Scali, Melania and Volpini, Laura and Scali, Melania. "Mediation in the Italian juvenile justice system: A mediation service project."

The authors of this article survey the status and function of mediation in the Italian juvenile justice system – at the time of writing, mediation was not available in the adult system in Italian. Restorative justice principles were introduced into the Italian juvenile justice system in 1988 in accord with United Nations’ Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice. Topics discussed include the following: the justice system perspective on the nature of juvenile offending; the administration of mediation within the system; and the development of a new, independent mediation service by a group of experts at the University of Rome.

Blackburn, Maddie. Report on: Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service

The Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service operates across a large county. It is one of the largest youth offending services inspected in the first phase of the inspection program conducted by the Healthcare Commission and other agencies of the national government. The first several years after implementation of the national youth justice reforms in April 2000 have seen significant changes. Youth offending teams (YOT) have been established across England and Wales; new orders and interventions have been introduced; a common assessment system has been developed; and more emphasis has been given to a range of approaches, including prevention, restorative justice, and victim services. This then is the first full inspection in the context of these changes. This report covers the following aspects of the Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service: management and partnership arrangements; children and young people who offend or who are at risk; work with parents and caregivers; and work with victims.

Bolkovaya, Svetlana. Urai: Idea Infection

Svetlana Bolkovaya is the restorative justice program coordinator in Urai in Russia. With the rate of juvenile delinquency in Uria increasing in recent years, it became clear to criminal justice officials and others that the accepted measures of dealing with juvenile offenders and their parents were not successful. New approaches were needed to respond to juveniles with destructive and deviant behavior, as well as with troubled families. Therefore, in 2000 she and others took part in a restorative justice seminar in Tyumen, the seminar being led by the Public Centre for Legal and Judicial Reform. Bolkovaya explains how this led to the development of restorative justice initiatives in Urai, and she describes some of the cases being handled through restorative principles and processes.

Campbell, Catriona and O'Mahony, David. Mainstreaming Restorative Justice for Young Offenders through Youth Conferencing - the experience of Northern Ireland

The youth justice system in Northern Ireland is quite distinct and different to that in the rest of the United Kingdom or Ireland. It has also evolved considerably in the past ten to fifteen years and there have been very significant changes to its whole philosophy and operation as recently as 2003, with the introduction of a Youth Conferencing Service. The Conferencing Service now deals with young offenders using an approach based around the principles of restorative justice and the very process and structure of the system has changed to incorporate this new approach (detailed below). This paper looks at crime and how the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland deals with young people who have offended. It examines what is known about youth offending in general and looks specifically at a number of innovative approaches to criminal justice practice. The police response to youth offending is examined and their specialist teams of officers who deal with young offenders. The courts and sentencing are then looked at with attention being placed on the new arrangements for holding children in custody. The range of measures introduced following the Criminal Justice Review are then examined, and specifically the youth conferencing arrangements, which adopt a restorative justice model to deal with young offenders. The paper draws to a close with a critical overview of the major changes in our system of youth justice and the possible lessons that can be learnt from an international perspective. (excerpt)

Chapman, Alice and McAllister, Mary Jo. No soft solution, the effectiveness of youth conferencing in Northern Ireland -- How victims and offenders of serious crime prefer it to the traditional system.

The Belfast Agreement 1998 set out new directions for government in Northern Ireland including criminal justice. It formed the Criminal Justice Review to review the whole criminal justice system and to produce a range of recommendations. Amongst many other matters it recommended that restorative justice should be at the core of the Northern Irish youth justice system. Subsequently the Justice [NI] Act 2002 provided legislation for the establishment of the Youth Justice Agency and the Youth Conference Service to facilitate youth conferences according to restorative justice principles. A restorative youth conference is available for any offence except an offence for which if the young person was an adult would require a period of life imprisonment.(excerpt)

Chapman, Tim. Learning to be Restorative.

The development of restorative justice in Northern Ireland is set in the context of a history of violent civil conflict and the contested nature of the relationship between the state and local communities. The peace process has included a fundamental review of criminal justice. One of its conclusions was to develop restorative justice for young people who commit criminal offences. In Northern Ireland there is a thriving community restorative justice sector. However, its relationship with the state sector is problematic due political issues over policing. The Police Service for Northern Ireland use restorative processes for the cautioning of young people. More recently the Youth Conference Service, part of the Youth Justice Agency, has been established to provide youth conferences for young people who have persisted in their offending. Youth conferences include the young person responsible for the harm, his or her family and supporters, the person who has been harmed, his or her supporters, a police officer and a youth conference co-ordinator. Only the most serious criminal offences (e.g. murder) are excluded from conferences. As long as the young person consents, a conference is held in almost every case in Northern Ireland. (excerpt)

Christy, Lotte. Dilemmas and Possibilities in Mediation Programmes for 12-15 Year Old Youngsters.

The 12-15 year olds have conflicts with each other – in class, at school, in the club, in the street. Some have conflicts with their parents or other adults. Most of them solve their conflicts themselves. But not all conflicts can be solved without help. And conflicts that are not solved can do great harm. In the worst cases they escalate and develop into violence and crime. On the other hand conflicts that are solved can give the parties new options in life. The idea of this project is to give the young people a helping hand. The project ‘Mediation for 12-15 year olds’ has been carried out in co-operation between the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Danish Crime Prevention Council and 8 municipalities. It was carried out from 2003 to 2005. (excerpt)

Community Justice Centers in Armenia

In 2006, two Community Justice Centers opened in Armenia to provide restorative justice services to first-time young offenders. They were developed by an NGO, Project Harmony, and Armenian law enforcement professionals and educators. In this article, Renee Berrian, programme manager with Project Harmony, provides an overview of the development of the Community Justice Centers in Armenia.

Crawford, Adam and Newburn, Tim. Recent Developments in Restorative Justice for Young People in England and Wales: Community Participation and Representation

This article examines some recent attempts to introduce elements of restorative justice into the youth justice system. We focus on the introduction of referral orders and youth offender panels and, in particular, consider the issues of community participation and representation. In examining the early experiences of these new ways of working we highlight a series of questions that arise out of the tension between the participatory character of restorative justice and the managerialist nature of much contemporary youth justice in England and Wales.

Crawford, Adam. Involving Lay People in Criminal Justice

Despite the contemporary academic and policy interest surrounding restorative and community justice, rigorous and extensive evaluations of initiatives are only recently coming to the fore, to take their place alongside small-scale case studies and anecdotes as ways of understanding and storytelling about restorative and community justice in public policy discourse. In their article, Karp and Drakulich have added a further important layer to our comprehension of the possibilities and pitfalls in implementing particular models of justice informed by restorative ideals. In what follows, I want to reflect on a fundamental, but often unasked, public policy question raised by the Vermont Reparative Boards and the thoughtful evaluation of them provided by Karp and Drakulich; namely; why involve lay people in criminal/restorative justice interventions? As they note, "there are still important questions to ask about the increased involvement of volunteers in the criminal justice system." In reflecting on these questions, I will draw on some recent developments in England and Wales, referred to by the authors in their article, notably, research conducted into Youth Offender Panels, which share some (qualified) similarities with Reparative Boards (see Crawford and Newburn, 2003). (excerpt)

Crawford, Adam. The Prospects for Restorative Youth Justice in England and Wales: A Tale of Two Acts

Adam Crawford opens this chapter with the observation that restorative justice is not only a major development in criminological thinking but also a global social movement. At the heart of restorative justice philosophy, he says, lies a concern with a particular mode of participatory and inclusive conflict resolution, as well as an emphasis on healing relationships, restoring victims, restoring offenders, and restoring communities. It is on these bases that Crawford explores the manner in which recent developments in England and Wales with respect to juvenile offenders have been affected by restorative justice ideas; he further considers their potential implications within the current criminal justice policy context. Youth justice reforms developed in England and Wales over two distinct waves of legislation: the Crime and Disorder Act 1998; and the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999. In discussing these developments, Crawford argues that the current government has adopted an eclectic, scattered approach to the integration of restorative justice into the youth justice system, and that this approach contains a number of tensions and contradictions.

Crow, Gill and Marsh, Peter. Family Group Conferences in Youth Justice. Case Studies in Two Projects

As Crow and Marsh remark, the family group conference (FGC) model is a way of empowering the extended family network to plan to meet the needs of members who are identified as having difficulties. In youth justice, this model enables the young offender and his or her family to work with the police, other services, and the victim to make reparation for the offense committed and to prevent further offending. The FGC model has been of considerable interest in youth justice work. Yet at the time of publication of this paper, there had been few attempts to introduce them in practice in England and Wales. This document presents findings, then, on two pilot FGC projects in Sheffield and in Kirklees in England. The findings deal with issues of implementation, process, and outcome over the first year (1997-1998) of both projects.

Cundy, Mick. Referral Orders in England and Wales

Cundy summarizes the use of referral orders in England and Wales. He goes through the principles and legislation informing the new disposition method, the objectives held by the youth justice board, and the roles of the Youth Offending teams.

Curry, Devinder and Knight, Victoria and Williams, Brian and Knight, Victoria and Owens-Rawle, Derek and Knight, Victoria and Semenchuk, Mike and Owens-Rawle, Derek and Williams, Brian and Semenchuk, Mike and Patel, Sunita and Owens-Rawle, Derek and Knight, Victoria and Williams, Brian. Restorative Justice in the Juvenile Secure Estate

This research was funded by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales in order to establish the scope of restorative work currently being undertaken within custodial and secure establishments, and to identify and disseminate good practice. It was undertaken by the Community and Criminal Justice Division at De Montfort University, Leicester between 2002 and 2003. The full report describes the use of a range of restorative interventions in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs), Local Authority Secure Units (LASUs)1 and Secure Training Centres (STCs) (collectively known as the juvenile secure estate). The research aimed to establish the extent to which restorative justice influences the regimes and programmes in secure institutions, as well as to identify good practice that might usefully be replicated elsewhere. (excerpt)

Czarnecka-Dzialuk, Beata and Wojcik, Dobrochna. Victim-Offender Mediation with Juveniles in Poland.

The European Commission’s Grotius II Criminal Programme initiated a project to address the need for better understanding of victim-offender mediation practices with juvenile offenders and justice systems in Europe. Under this project, studies were contracted and research papers produced to examine the situation in a number of European countries. Each study covered the following matters: norms and legislation allowing for the implementation of VOM programs; theoretical frameworks of VOM centers; organizational structure of VOM centers; categories and profiles of juvenile offenses; professional characteristics and job satisfaction of mediators; and advantages and criticisms of VOM. The papers were presented and discussed at a final seminar in Bologna, Italy, September 19-20, 2003. Within the categories mentioned above, this particular paper surveys victim-offender mediation with juveniles in Poland.

Czarnecka-Dzialuk, Beata and Wojcik, Dobrochna. Victim-offender mediation in Poland

The authors mark the beginning of interest in mediation in Poland in the early 1990s. A group of government employees and representatives from a non-governmental organizational helping prisoners visited German mediation centers. At the same time, several researchers and academics in criminology and especially juvenile justice became interested. They sought new ways of responding to crime – helping juveniles better and meeting the needs of victims. An organizing group worked on directions for the development of mediation programs in Poland: experiments in mediation; legal principles; training for mediators; seminars and conferences; and publication of information on mediation. Experimental programs targeted at juveniles were initiated in 1996, and other steps were taken (e.g., an international conference in 1995, and training sessions for mediators). The Codes of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure (in force since 1998) include specific articles on victim-offender mediation. The Minister of Justice regulates the process of mediation and the people and organizations permitted to conduct mediation. The Juvenile Justice Act does not have special provisions concerning victim-offender mediation, but its flexibility permits the application of mediation in this sphere. Among criminal justice officials and legal structures there is significant support for mediation in juvenile justice. It is not clear that there is the same level of support for mediation in adult justice cases. Judges, prosecutors, and police express interest in the possibilities but also raise deep concerns about it. The authors present statistics on the number and types of mediation cases, mediation organizations, and mediators in Poland. They also provide an overview of the practice of mediation.

Dapena, José and Martín, Jaime. Mediation in Juvenile Criminal Cases-The Case of Catalonia

Over the last forty years, changes in Europe in the sphere of the juvenile justice system have allowed for a progressive diversification of responses to juvenile delinquency and strengthening alternatives to confinement.